In Praise Of Love (Éloge de l'amour) (2001)

51% of critics liked it
(72 reviews)
58% of users liked it
(2,006 ratings)

Cinematic iconoclast Jean-Luc Godard returns to the front ranks of contemporary filmmaking while embracing the digital video revolution (no great surprise, given his eager and early embrace of video technology in the 1970s) with this drama. In the first part of the film, shot on 35 mm… More Cinematic iconoclast Jean-Luc Godard returns to the front ranks of contemporary filmmaking while embracing the digital video revolution (no great surprise, given his eager and early embrace of video technology in the 1970s) with this drama. In the first part of the film, shot on 35 mm black-and-white film, a filmmaker named Edgar (Bruno Putzulu) is in the midst of a casting session with his producers, looking for the leading lady for his next film. More interested in discussing philosophy than in the nuts and bolts of the character, Edgar speaks with a number of actresses before he encounters Elle (Cecile Camp); he's fascinated by her, and is certain he's met her somewhere before, but can't tell where or when. Eventually, Edgar decides Elle is the right person for the role, but he then discovers she has died. In the second part of the film, produced using color digital video equipment, Edgar flashes back to the moment when he first met Elle -- he's meeting with an elderly couple who survived the Holocaust and have sold their life story to a Hollywood movie producer. While meeting the couple as a guest of an old friend and historian (Jean Lacouture) interested in their story, he's introduced to the couple's granddaughter, a law student who has offered to take a look at their contract -- Elle. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 37 min.
Directed By: Jean-Luc Godard
Written By: Jean-Luc Godard
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Sep 6, 2002 Limited
On DVD: Jul 22, 2003
Studio: Manhattan Pictures International

Critic Reviews

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Godard has created such a hermetic, uncompromising world that only the hardiest cinematic spelunkers are likely to appreciate its depths.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
It's the intellectual ride of your life, as far as moviegoing goes.
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
A haunting, intense work, intellectually exploratory yet too emotionally acute in its melancholy to be considered merely academic.
Gene Seymour, Newsday
The movie's ripe, enrapturing beauty will tempt those willing to probe its inscrutable mysteries.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
The trick when watching Godard is to catch the pitch of his poetics, savor the pleasure of his sounds and images, and ponder the historical, philosophical, and ethical issues that intersect with them.
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
Godard ceased being a voice in the wilderness and became a voice in the wind, howling against demons that refused even to acknowledge his protests.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
All the beauty does not make the film even half as profound as it so obviously strives to be.
Derek Smith, Cinematic Reflections
Love, in Godard's case, is indistinguishable from cinema and thus he sees the growing capitalist machine as a threat to both.
Jake Euker, F5 (Wichita, KS)
Free-associative, unreasonable and stubborn, unresolved, and elegiac in tone, In Praise of Love is a great meditation on memory, aging, and love.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
What keeps me coming back to a filmmaker I never warmed up to, is that I find the rascal irresistible.
Gabe Leibowitz, Film and Felt
Ultimately, though, In Praise of Love is about themes, about the anti-Hollywood sentiment that Godard feels so passionately about, and this is where the film begins to crumble.
Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
Though some will see it as the ultimate litmus test of film pretentiousness, others are likely to surrender to Godard's never-ending inner dialogue.
Rich Cline, Film Threat
It's intriguing, visually arresting and utterly impenetrable!

Read all 13 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Dimitris S

The usage of challenging montage and hews aren't an important advantage of this Godard flick.Le dialogue probablement to semi-quote another movie.Naturally,incorporating novels/poetry in the midst of affection and ashes of past loves brings new reactions from both critics and… More
The usage of challenging montage and hews aren't an important advantage of this Godard flick.Le dialogue probablement to semi-quote another movie.Naturally,incorporating novels/poetry in the midst of affection and ashes of past loves brings new reactions from both critics and investigating audiences.Condemning the U.S. on past events isn't our problem as well.It's repetition.Godard's films are so clever,it's impossible to rate them fewer than this (unless they're heavily experimental?),I just felt he was cockier than before.

Cast

Bruno Putzulu
as Edgar
Cécile Camp
as Elle
Jean Davy
as Grandfather

See full cast

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In Praise Of Love (Éloge de l'amour) (2001)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Dimitris S

Cast

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